Bodiced Petticoats

[cosmoblue]

I was reading in another historical costuming site that there are no documented bodiced petticoats before 1820. Does anyone know about that. I know that there are patterns and directions from Jean Hunnisett's Period Costume for the Stage and Screen. Then I loked at jessamyn's site and she shows a fashion plate with a quote from 1806. Thoughts?

[dawnluckham]

Petticoats in the Regency era are necessarily "bodiced" or "suspended" with straps in order to maintain the high waist. It's a practicality. However, these bodiced petticoats are not support garments. Extent garments are loose and not tightly fitted enough to support the bust. The bodiced petticoats that Jean Hunnisett offers or that is offered in the La Mode Bagatelle pattern or on the Sense and Sensibility website are a 'modernism'. A practical solution for those who don't want to wear or feel they can't obtain a set of Regency stays.

[cosmoblue]

dawnluckham - are the non boned bodiced petticoats in Jean Hunnisett's book accurate. They seemed to me to look like the two "petticoat tops" that I have seen on the web. I know on Regency House Party there is a scene where they were undressing one of the ladies and they were unlacing her petticoat which had loops on like the mens waistcoats did. That would go along with what you said about them being loose.

[dawnluckham]

Cosmo, Jean Hunnisett mentions in her book that this is a "theatrical trick". I've never seen or heard of an exent petticoat that looks as if it's intended as a support garment. If you've found something in your searches I'd love to see it. "Regency House Party" is not a source for accurate documentation. It's TV. And like all film and television, historical accuracy is not the main concern - entertainment is.

[cosmoblue]

dawnluckham - this is the petticoat top that I was thinking of.

www.mfa.org/collections/search_art.asp?recview=true&id=323641&coll_keywords=underdress&coll_package=0&coll_start=1

This is the Regency House Party petticoat.



I consider any petticoat that is not just a skirt as a bodiced petticoat. I don't mean the boned ones. I assume that not everything that I see in RHP is accurate. That is why I post my questions here. It is great that we have so many new people who can actually answer my questions from experience and even further research.

[dawnluckham]

The MFA bodice you showed is an excellent example. There's a full petticoat here, as well:

tinyurl.com/2rq8xe

But note, these are not support, they are basically what we'd call "slips" today. Notice that MFA calls them "under dresses" and then in smaller print says it's a petticoat.

Thanks for sharing the screen clip from the "house party". It is interesting.

[Mme de Beaufort]

Just seeing if a new comment will bump this post.

and it does.